4 Indonesian hackers arrested for $6 mn int'l scam

Jakarta, Oct 2 (IANS) Police have arrested four Indonesian hackers on suspicion of an international scam that harmed companies in South Korea and Taiwan involving a total of 84.8 billion rupiahs (about $5.94 million), a police officer said on Friday.

The Indonesian Police's Director of Cyber, Brigadier General Asep Edi Suheri, said the suspects sent fake emails with notification of a change in the account number of a company to its partners, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Then the company partners transfer the fund to that account," Suheri explained.

With this Business Email Compromise (BEC) fraud scheme that has been carried out since last year, a food and beverage company SW in South Korea lost 82 billion rupiahs (about $5.74 million), while a technology company WWHF in Taiwan has lost 2.8 billion rupiahs (about $200,000).

The police have secured evidence, namely 29 billion rupiahs (about $2 million) in cash, two mobile phones, 14 automatic teller machine cards, and a number of fake company data.

The suspects identified as CT, NTS, YH, and SA have been arrested, and the police are still looking for a number of other suspects.